Governance, risk & compliance

Safe Social Media Act (Digital Safety Act) - Draft, Bill C-34, not in force Bill C-34, first reading 10 June 2026; second reading in the House (debate 21 Oct 2026)

PROPOSED LAW, NOT IN FORCE.

FOR PLANNING ONLY. Bill C-34 (45th Parliament, 1st session) has the short title Safe Social Media Act.

Part 1 would enact the Digital Safety Act and Part 2 the Digital Safety Commission of Canada Act. Stage verified on LEGISinfo on 24 October 2026: first reading completed 10 June 2026; second reading in the House of Commons in progress, with the latest debate on 21 October 2026; committee, report stage, third reading and the Senate not reached.

Under section 130 of the Digital Safety Act as introduced, the provisions come into force on a day or days fixed by order of the Governor in Council, so even after Royal Assent nothing applies until that order. The bill can change or die at any stage, and much of the detail is left to regulations that do not exist yet.

As introduced, it would apply to operators of regulated social media services, regulated chatbot services (an AI system that simulates a sustained human-like relationship) and, if a category is created by regulation, other online services that pose a significant risk of harm to children; a child is anyone under 18. Duties: protect children through regulated design features (s.

21), age verification or estimation to keep children from pornographic content (s. 22), and, for social media services specified by regulation, measures to keep persons under 16 from holding an account unless the Commission grants an exemption for adequate safeguards (ss.

27 to 29); act responsibly by mitigating the risk of seven kinds of harmful content, offering user guidelines, blocking and flagging tools, labelling synthetic content and naming a resource person (ss. 32 to 40); make child sexual victimization content and intimate content shared without consent inaccessible within 24 hours of identifying it or of a user flag, unless regulations set another period (ss.

43 to 46); chatbot safeguards including interrupting the conversation to direct a user in crisis to crisis services (ss. 49 to 57); and file a digital safety plan with the Digital Safety Commission (ss.

42, 58 and 59). Administrative monetary penalties can reach the greater of $10 million and 3% of gross global revenue (s.

88), and offences up to the greater of $20 million and 5% on indictment (s. 107).

Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act, is a separate bill tracked as CA_PPCDA. Section numbers are those of the Digital Safety Act as enacted by clause 2 of the bill.

Not asserted: the content of regulations, any commencement date, and any amendment made after first reading. General information, not legal advice.

Assessment tiers & levels Lavawall supports

Lavawall assesses Safe Social Media Act (Digital Safety Act) - Draft, Bill C-34, not in force at every level below, so you can start where you are and step up as your program matures.

How Lavawall® helps you get to Safe Social Media Act (Digital Safety Act) - Draft, Bill C-34, not in force compliance

Most of Safe Social Media Act (Digital Safety Act) - Draft, Bill C-34, not in force comes down to technical controls you have to run and prove: keeping systems patched, hardening configuration, detecting breaches early, backing up what matters, controlling access, and keeping evidence that all of it actually happened. Lavawall® runs those controls across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Microsoft 365 / Google Workspace from one console, maps them to Safe Social Media Act (Digital Safety Act) - Draft, Bill C-34, not in force, and tracks your posture continuously instead of once a year at audit time.

• Assess your current state against Safe Social Media Act (Digital Safety Act) - Draft, Bill C-34, not in force in the Lavawall GRC module, with the questionnaire and control set built in.
• Remediate the gaps with the same platform — automated patching, configuration fixes, backups, and access review — not a separate project.
• Evidence everything with timestamped, exportable records auditors, insurers, and clients accept.

Related

Lavawall® supports Safe Social Media Act (Digital Safety Act) - Draft, Bill C-34, not in force as part of a built-in catalogue of compliance frameworks. Framework requirements are summarized for planning purposes; always confirm the current official text before certifying.